


Purple as the Coldest Hands

by days4daisy



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Doctor Strange (2016) Spoilers, Extra Treat, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, with some snark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-05 09:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20486372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/days4daisy/pseuds/days4daisy
Summary: Karl’s strictness always comes with a touch of ego. His disappointment shows itself in scowls and a headshake. His advice, with smirks or a roll of his eyes.There’s no greater occasion for either than Stephen on his knees, clumps of frost still in his beard.





	Purple as the Coldest Hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bold_seer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bold_seer/gifts).

“I felt this- this certainty that I was going to die. That understanding came to me with the utmost clarity. But, at the same time I’d never felt more alive. It was like I could do anything. I could go from- from the height of Everest to Nepal. Incredible. And then I was here, I was- I could almost taste the air. How warm it was, how sweet. Then it was over. I was- I was back.”

Karl looks at Stephen with a seriousness that takes Stephen by surprise.

Karl has been hard on him. Stern. Rough. He thought he saw something in Stephen that even the Ancient One could not see. Since then, Karl's thought on more than one occasion that he was wrong, Stephen can tell. But Karl’s strictness always comes with a touch of ego. His disappointment shows itself in scowls and head shakes. His advice, with smirks or a roll of his eyes.

There’s no greater occasion for either than Stephen on his knees, clumps of frost still in his beard. The Ancient One departed upon visual confirmation of Stephen’s return and well-being. Stephen makes it back to the Kamar-Taj with no fingers or toes lost to frostbite. He has no lingering symptoms of hypothermia either, save this cold feeling he can’t quite shake.

He thought Karl would at least be good for a scoff at his expense. Because Stephen Strange almost died on Mount Everest less than five minutes ago. Mount Everest! This is what his life has become, ridiculous and intoxicating. Stephen is growing, he’s _learning_, but he’s learning things that he still can't make any sense of.

His old truths are a jumble of textbook science about how the world should work. This new truth, this new life… Well, it deserves a scoff or two. Stephen hasn't been able to count on Karl for support or useful guidance. But he has been reliable in the expressiveness department, until now.

He looks up from his knees at the hand offered to him. “Come on,” Karl says. “Let’s get you warmed up.”

No mockery after all. It must mean Stephen’s escape from near-death was worse than Stephen’s usual performance. He’s not even worthy of Karl’s teasing, only pity.

Still, Karl’s hand is warm and gentle around Stephen’s shakingfingers. Small mercies.

“You know.” Stephen is slow to make his half-frozen body stand. “Warming someone up has a less innocent connotation in most of the Western world. You might want to be careful when you throw that offer around.”

Karl rewards his joke with the twitch of an eyebrow. “And if I did mean this other connotation,” he says, “what would you say?”

Stephen frowns.

He draws his hand back from Karl’s in favor of wrapping his arms around himself. “I’d say you have an awful sense of humor, or the worst timing ever,” he says. “I’m - I can't say I'm in the right frame of body or mind for the- the other connotation. Maybe once I thaw out?”

A tip of amused lips. “Yes,” Karl agrees. “That’s what the warming up is for. Follow me.”

He leads the way, insinuation in his smile. And Stephen, against his old notions of logic or reason, follows without question.


End file.
